For the fifth consecutive year, The Gallup Job Creation Index has ranked North Dakota the nation’s best state for creating jobs.

“The fact that North Dakota continues to lead the nation in job growth is a testament to the hardworking people and the innovative business leaders all across our state,” Gov. Jack Dalrymple said. “Our well established economic development strategies are getting results and we will continue to do our part to create jobs, further diversify our economy and enhance the quality of life that makes North Dakota a very special place.”

Gallup’s Job Creation Index is a measure of net hiring. The index shows that employees in North Dakota were most likely to report that their employers were hiring workers rather than letting workers go. The state's resulting +40 score on Gallup's Job Creation Index was the best by a significant margin over any other state. Gallup also reports that its Job Creation Index has a strong connection to states’ standard of living. States with higher Job Creation Index scores tend to have higher standard-of-living scores.

The findings are based on more than 200,000 interviews with employed adults during 2013 and conducted as part of Gallup's Daily Tracking Poll. Interviewees were asked whether their companies are hiring workers and expanding the size of their labor forces, not changing the size of their workforces, or laying off workers and reducing their workforces. The complete report is available at: http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx.